Beware Saddam's Fate, Foes Tell Venezuela's Chavez

Reuters/yahoo.comnews ^ | December 16, 2003 | Pascal Fletcher

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned him on Monday he could face the same fate as Saddam Hussein -- pilloried as an international outlaw -- if he tried to block a democratic referendum against him.

Left-winger Chavez, who infuriated the United States three years ago by embracing and meeting the former Iraqi dictator in Baghdad, is fiercely contesting an opposition bid to trigger a constitutional vote next year on his five-year rule.

Some Venezuelan opposition leaders and commentators said the dramatic capture of Saddam by U.S. forces on Saturday was a lesson for populist Chavez, who has denounced his opponents' pro-referendum petition as a "mega-fraud" he cannot accept.

"What will the fledgling dictator we have here think of all this? Will he understand this could be his fate if he keeps on trying to destroy democracy?" the anti-government Caracas daily El Nacional said in an editorial headed "Saddam and Co."

Chavez's opponents say he is brazenly trying to torpedo the referendum bid even before electoral authorities have decided if the poll will go ahead in the second quarter of 2004.

Critics of the former paratrooper, who has governed the world's No. 5 oil exporter since he won free elections in 1998, accuse him of ruling like an anti-democratic strongman.

They say he has also delighted in baiting Washington -- Venezuela's biggest oil client -- by criticizing U.S. policies and assiduously courting anti-U.S. leaders like Iraq's Saddam, Cuba's Fidel Castro and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.

"These are Chavez's best mates ... the saying goes, tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are," Antonio Ledezma of the opposition Democratic Coordinator said.

Chavez, who survived a brief coup last year, condemns his opponents as rich right-wing "oligarchs" bent on trying to topple him and destroy his self-styled "revolution" he says is aimed at giving a better life to Venezuela's poor.

He also defends his foreign policy as an attempt to extend Venezuela's influence as an OPEC oil producer and to seek a "multi-polar" counterbalance to U.S. dominance in the world.

CASTRO "COMRADE AND BROTHER"

Opposition leaders say that if Chavez refuses to submit to a fair and legal referendum, as allowed in the constitution, they will ask international bodies like the Organization of American States to consider sanctions against him.

Chavez insists his foes have failed to collect the 2.4 million valid signatures required to secure a referendum.

His opponents say they gathered 3.6 million signatures Nov. 28-Dec. 1 in a petition they plan to deliver to the National Electoral Council for verification. The council has 30 days after that in which to announce whether a vote will be held.

In his regular weekly "Hello President" television and radio show on Sunday, Chavez did not mention Hussein.

But he did chat on the phone with Cuba's Castro, who has faced sharp international condemnation this year for jailing more than 70 anti-communist dissidents.

Calling Castro "brother, friend and comrade," Chavez discussed Cuba's support for Venezuelan health projects and swapped jokey banter with the 77-year-old Cuban leader, who said he liked to watch Chavez's TV show while relaxing "in his underpants."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Fidel Castro - Cuba

Hugo Chavez - Venezuela

[AmericanInTokyo]

Cuidado, el jefe. Cuidado.

Es un gran leccion por usted y su regime.

[newgeezer]

Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned him on Monday he could face the same fate as Saddam Hussein

What, a life sentence in some posh country-club 'prison'?

[aruanan]

You're penciled in, Hugo. You and that geriatric, cigar-sucking, scraggly-bearded anachronism from Cuba.

[joesnuffy]

Funny - speaking of dictators who murder rape torture steal and spread terrorism....
Castro who is a communist dictator living in a relatively small island-country just off our coast
one upon which we have a military base.......IS STILL IN POWER....Why?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Uncle fidel should dust off the couch. Company's commin !

[AmericanInTokyo]

Nabbing Chavez through a US inspired coup d'etat with Venezuelan rightists and freedom fighters, would be good 'trigger time' training, in practice for the big one when we or our valiant allies bring down Fidel and Kim Jong il.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I wouldn't mind if Chavez got whacked but what do we gain by taking out Castro and Kim ?

[bert]

Chavez is a leftist, an opponent of the aristocratic status quo. He is an elected opponent and his critics long for the return to the corrupt and cushy days of yore.

The problem for democracies, in Venezuela, in Iraq and in Florida is corruption that destroys the will of the electorate. Corrupt lawyers from all across Anerica flew to Florida to corrupt the will of the electorate and force Algore on the American republic.


Chavez seems to be right while wrong.

[TexasRepublic]

what do we gain by taking out Castro and Kim ?

Warm fuzzies.

[AmericanVictory]

Wonder what would happen to their "economy" if we had the leadership to take away Hugo's oil weapon?

[js1138]

Interseting. My next-door neighbor is from Venezuela, and came running over Sunday with the news of Saddam's capture. I didn't make any connection at the time.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[js1138]

This is a big problem is South and Central America. Countries run by mafia-like families, getting military and police support from the U.S. because the alternative is commie. Sort of like Massachusetts.

[Viking2002]

I'm willing to supply the bullets.

[aruanan]

Wonder what would happen to their "economy" if we had the leadership to take away Hugo's oil weapon?

They could try to sell it as hair oil.

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Hi-5'd be nice.